The Mother and the Beldam
by SiientForces
Summary: AU. Coraline comes face to face with the mastermind in charge of the Other World.
1. The Lesser of Two Evils

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that are mentioned here. Heck, I don't even own the first part of the plot, since this chapter's going to start with a rewrite to lead into the rest of the story.

A/N: Sorry if the summary seems a little vague, but the way I'm planning to write this chapter will be ruined if I tell you too much beforehand. Also, while the other chapters will be mostly movie-based, this part is based on the book, so the Other Mother always looks at least partially human; she never has the needle hands. The only exception to this is that the Others are still filled with sawdust like in the movie.

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**The Lesser of Two Evils**

Coraline pushed the door open and stepped into the flat, closely followed by the now panicked-looking cat. Her gaze flicked around to check the shadows. She took another step and spun around as she heard the door click shut behind her. She found herself face to face with the cold black buttons that were the Other Mother's eyes.

"Well now, I see you found the souls".

"Yes, I did." Coraline answered the comment coldly.

"Come now, that's hardly a way to talk to your mother."

She started walking forwards, towards the drawing room, leaving Coraline no choice but to back up into the room as well.

The Other Mother strode confidently to the center of the room, but Coraline wasn't going to get too close, she stayed near the edge of the room, making sure there was lots of distance between her and the thing that had called itself her mother. The cat slipped through the door to the room to stay with her. Never taking her gaze off Coraline, the Other Mother said, "You may have the souls, but that isn't all of the game, is it?"

"No, but I know where my parents are, so I'm going to win."

"Oh, really? Well where are they then?"

The ghost children had warned Coraline not to trust the Other Mother to keep her end of the promise, and she knew that they were right. If the Other Mother was desperate enough to keep her here that she would hold Coraline's parents hostage, there was no telling what other tricks she would try.

Suddenly, Coraline got an idea. If she could get the Other Mother to open the door, she could probably get through it and lock it again, getting everyone back to the real world safely.

"Well, I looked everywhere in the house while I was searching for the souls of the other children and I didn't find any trace of them, so they must be somewhere else. And the only place there is where you could have hidden them is behind the door back to my world."

The Other Mother's button eyes glinted for a minute, but the look disappeared almost as soon as it was there. She spun around and started walking towards the old door on the back wall to hide her smirk. Rummaging through her pockets for a second, she pulled out the big black key that she had taken from Coraline just a little bit earlier. She slipped it into the lock and pulled the door open.

While she was out of the Other Mother's sight, Coraline moved as quietly as she possibly could over to the mantle and the snow globe the was her parents' prison. She reached up and grabbed it just as the Other Mother finished unlocking the door.

"Ha, they aren't there, _daughter_. Now you will stay and… What!?"

The Other Mother's gloating was cut short as she saw Coraline, snow globe in hand, running for the door that had just been opened. Angry, the Other Mother slammed the door shut again and thrust her hands out.

Coraline ran for the door, but was stopped by the Other Mother, who was a lot bigger and stronger, and was able to throw her to the floor easily. Unable to control it, Coraline's grasp on the snow globe slipped and the globe fell away from her. She looked up to see the Other Mother towering over her, fury glowing in the jet-black buttons.

"How dare you! You filthy cheating girl! You lost, and you _will_ stay!"

The Other Mother dove down at Coraline, but Coraline was able to roll out of the way and up to her feet. The Other Mother turned back to face Coraline and came at her again, determined and angry.

Coraline turned to run, but the whole Other World seemed to be reflecting the anger of the Other Mother. The floor of the room pulsed with her emotion, tripping Coraline as she tried to run and sending her falling again.

The Other Mother had gotten a needle, thread, and two dark black buttons from somewhere. As she came above Coraline, she pinned the little girl to the now-still ground and raised the needle and one of the buttons, preparing to finish her 'game'.

Suddenly, a black blur shot towards the Other Mother, jumping up to slash it her hands with a set of sharp claws. As the cat distracted her, the Other Mother stopped putting pressure on Coraline, who was able to get up again.

"Aughhh! Filthy vermin!" the Other Mother screamed as the cat continued to slash at her. There was a terrible scream as his swipe sliced through the threads holding one of her button eyes on. As the button fell to the ground, Coraline was running back towards the door home and the snow globe that held her parents. As she scooped the globe back up and pulled on the door, she yelled,

"Come on Cat, let's go!"

As the cat jumped down, Coraline started to pull the door, but it was heavy, and didn't close nearly fast enough. The Other Mother was furious, and dashed over to the door, trying to stop Coraline. A pale, bony hand closed around the door and started to pull it back open.

Coraline grunted and tried to pull even harder, but it was no good. The Other Mother was too much stronger than her. Suddenly, she felt the hands of the three ghost children and her parents grasp her hands, and she pulled with renewed strength. Slowly but surely, the door slid more and more closed.

In a desperate attempt to keep Coraline from escaping, the Other Mother grabbed the door with her other hand, but the heavy door had built up too much momentum and her final scream of rage was cut off as the door slid into place, splitting off both her hands. Coraline watched, relived, as the two hands stopped moving. Suddenly she realized that there was sawdust rushing out from where the hands were split off.

_Sawdust? How is that possible? She can't be just a doll. She was the one in charge of this world! _

She thrust the door open again, fuelled by panic. A terrible scream echoed from the Other Mother as she saw Coraline again but was unable to grab her. The cat rushed forward one more time and slashed with his claws. The Other Mother looked down with her one remaining eye to see the gash across her stomach, just in time for sawdust to rush out and make her collapse. Coraline looked down at the dead and draining body of the Other Mother, glad to see that she had finally been beaten. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Then she realized what it was. Even with the Other Mother killed and powerless, the Other World was still the same as ever.

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A/N: Well there's the first chapter. Hopefully, you can all tell what the Other World being unaffected by her death means; I tried to make it fairly easy. Also, since this the first fic I've tried to write, there are probably some characterization issues. If you see anything, feel free to mention it and I'll try to work on it for later chapter. For all the Wybie fans out there, I promise he'll be in the next chapter.


	2. Unwanted Advice

Disclaimer: I still don`t own Coraline. Copyright for that belongs to Neil Gaimon. Copyright for Wybie goes to Henry Selick.

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**Unwanted Advice**

Coraline stood in shock. She was unable to move as the sawdust that had filled her greatest enemy's body spilled into a mound on the ground She stood and waited for the Other World to fall apart or for the end of the tunnel to just get bricked up and disappear. Nothing happened. Even once the Other Mother's body emptied completely and was still, the Other World remained stable and normal.

Coraline couldn't stand to be there any more. She grabbed the key and pulled the door shut again. Then she started to run back towards her own house and her own life. Holding all three souls of the children, as well as the snow globe that was trapping her parents, she pushed as hard as she could, trying to get an extra burst out of her legs and get away from the Other World.

As she ran, Coraline was able to see the light coming through the door in her apartment. She was almost there! Just as she pulled up to the end of the tunnel, she felt a strong wrenching and the three ghost souls as well as her parents' prison flew out of her hands and back down into the darkness. With a quick cry, the five ghosts that had been beside her disappeared, leaving Coraline alone.

"No! Mom! Dad!"

It was just too much for Coraline to deal with. They had finally been free! She stumbled through the door back into her real home and collapsed on the ground, sobbing. She barely noticed the cat curl up beside her, and she didn't notice at all when she slipped asleep, her dreams filled with repeats of both times she found her parents captured by whatever evils lived beyond the door.

She was eventually woken up by two things: the sunlight streaming into her face and the cat hair that was getting stuck in her nose. She slowly pulled herself up, shielding her eyes from the sunlight blaring in through the windows. She saw the old door standing open, which brought the memories back again, but she had already been crying for ages, and she was able to get up and leave the room.

Heading into the kitchen, Coraline realized how hungry she was, and was glad that she did. It gave her something to focus on that had nothing to do with the Other Mother. She made a sandwich quickly and choked it down, but there was no flavour and she ate it only to keep hunger from bothering her.

As she ate, Coraline's thoughts wandered, trying to find something that wouldn't remind her of what happened to her parents. Suddenly, she thought of the boy that had been stalking her on the first day she got here. Anger suddenly flared up in place of her sadness. _This is all his fault! He brought the stupid doll that let the Other Mother start this whole disaster!_ As Coraline was brooding, she heard a knock on the door. She got up and strode towards the door.

"If that's you, _Wybourne_, you're going to get it! You've already caused enough problems!"

She threw the door open to see Mr. Bobinsky, and she felt kind of bad for yelling at him like that. She started to give a quick apology, just so she wouldn't feel quite so bad, but as she started, the cat shot through her legs and out of the house, startling her and making her forget what she was going to say. Before she could start to say anything new, she was interrupted.

"Hello Caroline. I have an important message for you"

"Message?"

"Yes, a message. From the mice. They say you cannot do it alone. But they could be wrong. The mice are very strange now; they get your name wrong. Always Coraline, never Caroline." He made a quick shrug and started to back away from the door. "Das vidanya!"

Mr. Bobinsky flipped back up to his flat, leaving Coraline standing in her empty doorway. She closed the door and thought for a minute. The last time the mice had left her a message, it was a warning not to go into the Other World. That certainly would have been good advice if she'd followed it. Since the mice had proven that their advice was helpful, Coraline was ready to listen to this new piece of information.

However, once she started thinking about what the advice meant, she got less and less happy about it. If she wouldn't be able to manage going back in there on her own, then she'd obviously need to bring someone with her.

_But who?_

Her parents were gone.

_Mr. Bobinsky or Misses Forcible and Spink? No_.

She realized that that only left her one choice.

_Well, I guess it has to be Wybie._

Coraline was still kind of angry with him but her concern for her parents was stronger. Coraline spun around to grab her coat, which was hanging right there by the door. She turned back around just in time to hear the grinding of Frankinsteina's motor, which was her only warning before Wybie shot down the hill and skidded to a stop in front of her.

"Hey Jonsie!" he called as he was getting down from the bike. "You remember that doll I found? I _really_ need it back now. My grandma is kinda panicking, so, umm… Do you have it?"

Coraline flashed him a cold look. Wybie cringed.

"No I don't have it. It was her spy, it found out everything she could use to trap you."

"Are you still going on about this 'Other World', Jonsie? This all started when I gave you the doll. Maybe… maybe you need to be away from it for a while." Wybie cautiously stretched out his hand, looking warily at Coraline. After a few seconds passed and nothing happened, Wybie spoke up again. "Umm… Are you going to give it to me?"

"You're still not listening to me!"

Coraline looked down and saw a small stone. She grabbed it and pulled her arm back, ready to hurl it at Wybie. Just then, she heard a peeved-sounding meow and she glanced towards it. She saw the cat and she could have sworn it was glaring at her.

_Wait, didn't that cat just head off into the distance? How can it be back?_

Her thoughts were cut short as she heard a voice in her mind. It was speaking just like the cat had in the Other World, with the same arrogant, all-knowing tone.

_What are you doing? You need Wybie to have any chance of getting your parents back, remember? Fine way to get him to help you, chucking stones at him._

As the voice echoed in her head, Coraline let the rock drop from her hand. Wybie was a little startled by how fast she seemed to have calmed down. His hand slipped closer to his body again as he watched her, not sure what she would do next.

Coraline tried to lighten her voice.

"You think I'm crazy, do you Wybie? Come look at this!"

As she finished talking, she dashed off into her house, disappearing around a corner without looking back.

Wybie stood in the doorway for a minute. Coraline had disappeared before he could say anything to her, but he knew that he wasn't supposed to go into the Pink Palace. His grandmother had drilled that point into his head a long time ago. On the other hand, this was the first time Coraline didn't seem totally hostile to him. He'd already seen how quickly her moods could shift, and he the last thing he wanted to do right now was annoy her again.

Taking a deep breath and swearing that he would never _ever_ tell his grandmother about it, Wybie dashed down the hall, towards where he had seen the blue-haired girl last. He pushed open a large set of double doors and found Coraline waiting for him in her drawing room. His attention was quickly pulled off of her and onto the huge door in the wall that was standing open.

"Wow! What is that?"

Wybie circled a little closer to Coraline so that he could get a look at what was past the doorframe. He was shocked even more by what he saw next. The door opened onto a tunnel that almost looked to be made of blue cloth. As his eyes moved over it, the cloth seemed to sparkle in every colour you could imagine.

"So do you still think I'm nuts?" Coraline asked as she tried to keep from laughing at the expression on Wybie's face. "You didn't believe that there was an Other World, but here it is."

"I … I…"

Wybie wasn't even able to talk at this point. He was too overwhelmed by what he was seeing.

"You seem to be having trouble dealing with this"

Coraline was still trying to keep from laughing, but she was failing. Hints of a giggle crept into her voice as she looked at Wybie. His expression of total disbelief was just priceless.

Wybie took a faltering step towards the tunnel, looking like he had no control over himself. Suddenly, Coraline was hit by a wave of guilt.

_I'm tricking him into the Other World. How can I do that? I know just how dangerous it is._

She started to feel like the Other Mother, luring kids into her clutches and never letting on about the danger they were putting themselves in. She shook her head, trying to clear the feeling.

_It's nothing like that. Besides, I'm not going to keep him there. Right now I've got to stop him from thinking I'm crazy, then we'll work on my parents. One step at a time._

Thinking of her parents almost made Coraline break down again. She'd managed to forget for a minute and suddenly the pain was back, and she felt it even more after it had been gone. Only her determination that she would get them back kept her able to continue. Shaking her head once more, Coraline put the cheer from before back in her voice.

"Come on!" she called as she dashed in front of him and started down the tunnel.

As Coraline rushed in front of him, it broke his eye contact with the strange tunnel in front of him, and Wybie found himself able to think clearly again. Warnings from his grandmother flashed through his mind again, but Wybie ignored them. For the first time, Coraline seemed to be on good terms with him. Besides, Wybie was an adventurer. This tunnel had piqued his curiosity and it was way more interesting than the banana slugs he was going to be hunting.

He didn't see why the Pink Palace worried his grandmother so much. It seemed way more interesting than his boring old house! Without another thought, Wybie followed Coraline past the doorframe, completely unaware that this was the exact danger he had always been warned about.

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A/N: That's the end for now. Please leave a review so I can see how people like it so far. I felt kinda bad writing this, since I made Wybie such a target for Coraline's anger. I'm going to try to make it up to him by having a nicer relationship between the two of them later. I might even be able to fit in a bit of fluff at the end, but no promises. I don't want to end up wrecking the story just to fit some in.


	3. Back to the Other Side

**Back to the Other Side**

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the people or places related to Coraline. If I did, there'd be sequels.

A/N: Sorry about any spelling mistakes there are in this chapter. I am leaving for a week-long vacation Thurday morning to spend the March Break at a resort, and I wanted to get the chapter out before I left, so it got a little bit rushed.

Wybie stepped into the tunnel, following Coraline towards a light that he could faintly see at the other end. What had looked like a huge distance down the tunnel passed quickly as the light at the other end drew closer and closer.

While this was happening, the cat had circled back out of the house and was climbing up the trees that had grown beside the walls. As he was walking along a branch, something through the window caught his attention. He watched intently as Wybie's back and legs disappeared through the door.

_What is she doing?! She hasn't told him anything about the Other World! He isn't ready at all! Well. I guess my work isn't done yet._

Mr. Bobinsky, who was standing on the roof doing his daily stretches, was able to see a black cat jump down from a branch and start dashing along the ground. He watched as the cat wove in and out between trees for a few seconds. Then, just as he blinked, the cat vanished behind one tree and never reappeared.

Wybie had followed Coraline down the entire length of the tunnel and as she came out on the other side, Wybie got his first clear look at the place where he had been led. He was right back where he had left from! The room looked exactly the same as the room where Coraline had first showed him the door. He spun around to face her.

"What kind of trick is this? You make this whole show of leading me through this door, and it doesn't go anywhere!"

Wybie was getting mad, and none of his timid personality was coming through anymore. He opened his mouth to continue ranting, but stopped as he heard the sound of a heavy metal door closing. He looked over to see the door that he had just come through slide completely shut. Then, to his amazement, the door melted away, leaving nothing there but a clean stretch of wall.

Wybie had straightened a little bit while he was angry. Trying to be noticeable wasn't normal for him, but when he really had a point to get across, the extra height could be helpful. That height all slipped away as he looked at the wall where the door had been. As puzzlement and fear replaced anger, he shank down a little bit more, looking like he was trying to hide inside the trench coat he was wearing.

Coraline was staring at the wall as well. Overwhelmed, she sank down and sat on the ground. Without thinking, Wybie did the same and looked over at her, hoping for an explanation.

Coraline turned around, taking her stare off the place where the door had been and instead focusing on Wybie. She started to talk slowly.

"Well, I guess I should probably explain."

As her sentence finished, another voice cut into the conversation, sounding unimpressed.

"Oh, _now_ you should explain? Not before you drag him here, knowing that it's still dangerous?"

Wybie had no idea what was going on. He started to shrink even further into his coat to get away from whatever this new voice was coming from, but he stopped when he saw Coraline's head whip sideways with a relieved look. He did the same thing, just in time to see a black shape jump down from the bare mantle and lad softly on the carpet.

Now that it had stopped moving, Wybie could tell what the shape was, and his jaw dropped.

_Cat?! How did he get here?! Wait, Cat's talking!_

Dimly, Wybie could hear Coraline and Cat talking about something, and he managed to shake off his shock in time to hear the end of Cat's comment.

"…Yes, I think it's time you tell him everything."

"When Coraline started to speak again, Wybie could her that her voice was still and determined. There was none of the anger, cheerfulness or horror that he had heard there before. Now, she just sounded serious.

"Alright Wybie. Now do you believe me about the Other Mother's trap?"

Coraline seemed to pause for a second, but before Wybie could even nod, she continued.

"This is it, the Other Mother's world. I thought I'd managed to finish off all the dangers here when I came back here after I told you about my parent's disappearing, but something has trapped my parents again."

"But, what _is_ this world? Why does this Other Mother care about your parents?"

"I guess I'll start at the very beginning then…"

Wybie sat and listened as Coraline finished the story of everything that had happened once she had passed through the door in her drawing room. During the story, the cat had been patiently sitting and waiting for Coraline to finish.

As Coraline finished her last sentence, Cat's ears quickly perked up.

"Wha…", Wyibie started to say, but Cat cut him off with a quick hiss.

"Something's here now. This whole world had been empty until just a second ago"

Coraline's eyes narrowed as she stood up. She had seen all the tricks that this world had to offer, and there was no way she was going to let her guard down now.

As Wybie slowly followed, Coraline walked out of the room and started to explore the halls that she had hoped to leave forever. The Other World seemed just the way she remembered it. Everything looked the same as her real house, but it always seemed changed somehow, more sinister and evil.

However, Coraline could feel that there was something about the house that was not the same, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. As she walked towards the kitchen, she suddenly realized what it was. The whole house was silent. The Other Mother's whistling wasn't echoing down through the halls and there were no sounds of activity from any direction.

_I didn't think it was possible for the Other World to get any creepier, but here it is_.

Coraline took a minute to look behind her. Wybie didn't seem affected by how strange the house seemed while it was empty. If anything, he looked to be getting _more_ comfortable with the Other World.

To check her theory, Coraline led Wybie down towards the kitchen, and carefully poked her head through the space between the doors. The lights were on, but there was no one standing there. The Other Mother was missing from her usual place at the stove, and no smells of food filled the air.

Coraline really couldn't feel bad that the Other Mother wasn't in the house, but just as she started to lighten up a little, she remembered her Other Father.

_He was always so nice. He even tried to fight the Other Mother when she wanted him to attack me_.

Coraline had to check on him.

_The house seems quiet, but he might still be here! After all, Cat said he could sense somebody._

She suddenly took off, running down the hall towards her Other Father's study, leaving a confused Wybie trying to see her in the dark hall so he could follow her.

Coraline burst through the door of the study. Her mind was filled with joy at the chance to see her Other Father again. She was running towards the huge piano in the center of the room when the truth set in. He wasn't there.

She flopped down on the piano bench beside her, tears threatening to slip out of her eyes. She pressed her eyelids closed to stop them and it was in that blind moment when terror struck.

Two white hands burst out of the top of the piano, the same hands that the Other Father had worn when he sang for her the first time she came here. The two hands shot straight towards Coraline and one of them wrapped around her stomach, trapping her. She tried to yell.

"AAAAHH…."

Her scream was immediately silenced when the other hand landed down on her mouth, leaving her unable to speak at all. Coraline wriggled and squirmed, but she wasn't able to get away from the two hands that were holding her on the bench.

Wybie had been wandering down the hall, wondering where Coraline had disappeared to, when he heard a loud yell for just a fraction of a second. He started running in the direction it came from, worried that the Other Mother really was here, and that Coraline had run into her.

Wybie came into the study where Coraline was and was amazed to see that she was being held by a piano, with no people in sight. He run towards her, hoping to be able to help, but the hand that had been covering her mouth let go and moved down to trip him as he ran.

"Wybie!"

He struggled to get up. The hand that had tripped him was pressing down on his chest, but without both hands working together, the piano wasn't strong enough to keep him down.

Wybie managed to push himself to his feet and he tried again to cross over to Coraline. He only got a few steps though, because the piano had figured out what had happened before. It knew that it was able to trip him and still keep Coraline trapped on the bench.

This time, as Wybie dropped, he lunged forward, and was able to grab hold of Coraline as he fell. The two of them landed, crushing the two hands. One was wrapped around Coraline's back, and the weight of both of the kids crushed it into the ground. The other hand had tried to go back to restrain Coraline when Wybie grabbed her, but instead it had gotten caught between the two of them and was too mangled to do anything.

As the two hands flopped uselessly onto the ground, Wybie and Coraline were both trying to get their panic under control. After a few seconds, he realized that he had fallen above her and was pinning Coraline to the ground, inches from her face. Blushing furiously, he rolled over to allow both of them to get up.

"Uhhh… Well…"

Wybie tried to think of something to say, but the pounding blood in his cheeks kept him from finding anything that might deal with the awkward situation. Coraline wasn't having any better luck. Her cheeks were just as red as Wybie's and she mumbled in his direction, but never said anything loud enough for him to understand.

As the two of them sat apart from each other, pointedly looking at anything else in the room but the other person, they both came to the same conclusion.

The world may be empty, but it still can't be trusted.

A/N: So far, I haven't gotten any reviews of this. If you're reading it, please leave a quick message, even an anonymous one, just so I can see if anybody is actually following this. If there isn't any interest in it, I'll probably abandon it to try something else. If people seem to want more, I'll try to get it out as soon as I can once I get back next Thursday. Check my profile at any time for updates on how the next chapter is coming.


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